588 CARNIVORA 



Polecat is dark brown above and black beneath, the face being 

 variegated with dark brown and white markings. 



The skull is rough, strongly ridged, and of a far more powerful 

 type than that of the Stoats, Weasels, or Martens ; being in the 

 female much smaller and lighter than in the male. The fur, which 

 is long, coarse, and of comparatively small value, changes its colour 

 very little, if at all, at the different seasons of the year. 



The distribution and habits of this species have been described 

 by Blasius, the following being an abstract of his account. The 

 Polecat ranges over the greater part of Europe, reaching northwards 

 into Southern Sweden, and in Russia to the region of the White 

 Sea. It does not occur in the extreme South, but is common every- 

 where throughout Central Europe. In the Alps it ranges far above 

 the tree-line during the summer, but retreats in winter to lower 

 ground. In fine weather it lives either in the open air, in holes, 

 fox-earths, rabbit-warrens, under rocks, or in wood-stacks, while in 

 winter it seeks the protection of deserted buildings. During the 

 day it sleeps in its hiding-place, sallying forth at night to plunder 

 dovecots and hen-houses. It climbs but little, and shows far less 

 activity than the Marten. It feeds ordinarily on small mammals, 

 such as rabbits, hamsters, rats, and mice, on such birds as it can 

 catch, especially poultry and pigeons, and also on snakes, lizards, 

 frogs, fish, and eggs. Its prey is devoured only in its lair, but, 

 even though it can carry away but a single victim, it commonly 

 kills everything that comes in its way, often destroying all the 

 inhabitants of a hen-house in order to gratify its passion for 

 slaughter. The pairing time is towards the end of the winter, and 

 the young, from three to eight in number, are born in April or 

 May, after a period of gestation of about two months. The young, 

 if taken early, may be easily trained, like Ferrets, for rabbit-catching. 

 The Polecat is very tenacious of life, and will bear many severe 

 wounds before succumbing ; it is also said to receive with impunity 

 the bite of the adder. Its fetid smell has become proverbial. 



Four other species of Polecats are known, viz. The Siberian 

 Polecat (M. eversmanni) of Western and Northern Asia is nearly 

 allied to the European species, but the head and back are almost 

 white, and the skull is stouter and more constricted behind the 

 orbits. The Tibetan M. larvata is distinguished from the last 

 by the presence of a process connecting the pterygoid with the 

 auditory bulla, and by a difference in the shape of the upper 

 molar. The American Polecat (M. nigripes), inhabiting the central 

 plateau of the United States, and extending southwards into Texas, 

 is another closely allied species, although some zoologists have made 

 it the type of the genus Cynomyonax. Finally, the Mottled Polecat 

 (M. sarmatica) is a species sparsely distributed in Eastern Europe 

 and parts of Western Asia, but common in Southern Afghanistan. 



